Words from a successful old tailor who managed to retire at age 45. He sold his store to man who proceeded to bankrupt the business within a couple of years of taking over a successful shop that had been going for decades.

Where had the new owner gone wrong? The answer, my friend suggested, was that the new owner was bad at customer relationships. It was impossible to go into the shop just for a chat and cup of coffee. No, he was forever trying to force you to buy a pair of socks etc. He was pushy.

When something went wrong, instead of trying to placate the client, he would be confrontational. My friend said to me, these types go back to the office and blabber: "you don't lose one client....you lose ten".

Old tailors are forever at me about how important it is to be a good businessperson first and foremost. Being a good tailor alone isn't going to translate to success.

Everything stands or falls with one single thing: trust-based relationships. Without that, nothing else will save your bacon.

Especially with something so personal as clothing.

Without trust, people don't buy, that's just a fact. It explains how that shop went down: if the new owner started to foist products on his customers, it tells them he's not working in their interest but that his own interests are more important than theirs.

Aside from annoying the crap out of them, it also kills trust and believe me: trust is the one thing you can't do without, when selling something.

tailleuse and cperry like this

Sure, I believe your work rocks, but... have you considered, how are you going to sell that stuff?

Where had the new owner gone wrong? The answer, my friend suggested, was that the new owner was bad at customer relationships. It was impossible to go into the shop just for a chat and cup of coffee. No, he was forever trying to force you to buy a pair of socks etc. He was pushy.

Sator,

How does this point fit in with your post about tailors' having an increased online presence and possibly leaving commercial districts? Do you anticipate Skype calls with clients or emails in substitution for the drop-in visits of old?

I think its the marketing model that tells you how to respond. If you are selling $50.00 suits, you are trying to shovel them out the door as fast as you can, if you are selling $500.00 suits you have a little time to spend on customers but if you are custom making $5000.00 suits to fit individual clients, you treat them like friends and take your time. Its when you get mis-matches between customers and sales people that you get silly problems. The $50.00 customer probably cannot afford the bus fare to a place where bespoke suits are made, likewise, the $5000.00 suit customer does not want a $5.00 pair of socks shoved down his/her neck when they make a casual enquiry about a new suit.

Some time ago I needed a couple of pairs of respectable trousers (something I refuse to try and make) so I went to a friend of mine about my own age who has been a tailor for about 50 years and he tracked down a couple of pairs of hand made trousers. They both fitted OK by my eye but he refused to supply them until he had altered them. He organised them finished for peanuts, done in a couple of days and fitted perfectly. Deal with a pro and you get the holy grail, deal with a dill and you get the run around and end up with junk.

How does this point fit in with your post about tailors' having an increased online presence and possibly leaving commercial districts? Do you anticipate Skype calls with clients or emails in substitution for the drop-in visits of old?

In the old days (19th century to pre-WWI) I've read that high-end tailor's shops were discrete and outsiders couldn't see into them. This was to maintain privacy and exclusivity. The twentieth century changed all of that. Big show windows with bright lighting on prominent streets became the norm. Window dressing became an art form and shopkeepers started to display goods for people to look at. That meant that exposure became important. If you had a shop on a main street, there would be lots of people passing by and you would get good exposure. The down side is that it meant that rent would be more expensive.

In Italy, I have heard that some tailors still work the old fashioned way. They do not want exposure. They want discretion. They deal only with exclusive clients. Often they will live upstairs from their workshop/showroom. There is no window display at street level. They don't want casual passerby rabble wandering in.

The internet may revive the fortunes of the old fashioned method of working. You get to save money by living above your workshop. Yet at the same time you get to maintain exposure in the form of an electronic show window with your website.

This has got nothing to do with clients ordering or being fitted over Skype! Clients find you on the internet. They come to your workshop below your home to order and for fittings.

This has got nothing to do with clients ordering or being fitted over Skype! Clients find you on the internet. They come to your workshop below your home to order and for fittings.

I didn't mean being fitted over Skype. I was thinking more along the lines of a client might call the tailor to get his or her opinion about shirts or cuff links or shoes. I would imagine clients stop in to ask questions like that.

I guess that's another question. It take time to answer the phone. It takes time to answer emails. It takes time to set up a Skype conversation. It takes time to answer enquiries through a Facebook or Twitter work account.

Where do you fit all of these things into a busy day? At least you can set time aside to sit down and answer all your email or Facebook inquiries at once. Phone calls are very disruptive. Then there are mobile/cell phone calls anywhere, any time...

How does this point fit in with your post about tailors' having an increased online presence and possibly leaving commercial districts? Do you anticipate Skype calls with clients or emails in substitution for the drop-in visits of old?

That could certainly work, yes. It's a strategic decision.

The internet may revive the fortunes of the old fashioned method of working. You get to save money by living above your workshop. Yet at the same time you get to maintain exposure in the form of an electronic show window with your website.

I believe it's the way forward, with or without bricks&mortar premises added.

tailleuse likes this

Sure, I believe your work rocks, but... have you considered, how are you going to sell that stuff?

Depends, really. If a customer insists on drape while that particular tailor isn't skilled in the style, it'll definitely be a troublesome process. We all have our own methods and styles, and creating a drape coat certainly is more than a matter of just adding some extra width in the chest. There's a whole lot of skill involved in doing it right.

tailleuse likes this

Sure, I believe your work rocks, but... have you considered, how are you going to sell that stuff?

It's not the drape that's the problem. In fact, drape is a total non-issue in itself. The problem is that of a client who micromanages the tailor. Usually, these have read up on the internet, and a bad sign of this is when someone drops the term 'drape' into the conversation.